IBM's Gulfstream G650ER N780RW lands in Istanbul after 8-hour Atlantic crossing

International Business Machines Corp's Gulfstream G650ER, tail number N780RW, landed at Istanbul Airport (LTFM) in Istanbul, Türkiye on Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 01:45 UTC. The aircraft departed Westchester County Airport (KHPN) in White Plains, United States, at 17:34 UTC, spending 8 hours and 10 minutes in the air.

The great-circle distance of the flight was 4,302 nautical miles, or 4,950 miles, covering 57 percent of the aircraft's 7,500 nm range. The Gulfstream G650ER, an ultra long range jet built by Gulfstream, reached a highest altitude of 45,075 feet and a top ground speed of 597 knots. The flight consumed an estimated 3,842 US gallons of fuel, producing about 36.9 metric tons of CO2, equivalent to driving a car 91,353 miles. The aircraft can seat up to 19 passengers and has a service ceiling of 51,000 feet.

This is the first tracked landing by any of IBM's two Gulfstream G650ERs at Istanbul Airport in the 30-day window ending November 11, 2026. The aircraft's home base is Westchester County Airport in White Plains. Over the past month, IBM's fleet visited 18 airports in one country, flying about 22,347 nm. Recent flights include N780RW's trip from Monterey to New York on November 8, and N780TW's flights from Washington to Miami on November 10 and from Teterboro to New York on November 11.

International Business Machines Corp, founded in 1911, employs about 282,000 people and has a market cap of roughly $200 billion. Its CEO is Arvind Krishna, who has held the role since April 2020. The company's headquarters is in Armonk, New York, and it has major operations in the United States and internationally, including in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Bangalore, Tokyo, Sydney, Toronto, and São Paulo. IBM operates two Gulfstream G650ERs, both built in 2020, with N780TW directly owned and N780RW leased through Banc of America Leasing.

Istanbul is a major business hub in Türkiye, a country where IBM has had a presence for decades. The company's operations in the region include cloud services, artificial intelligence initiatives, and partnerships with local enterprises. No public schedule for IBM executives in Istanbul was found in the web search results.

The flight marks the first tracked visit by IBM's aircraft to Istanbul since at least October 2026, extending the company's global reach beyond its usual destinations in the United States and Europe.

The aircraft's average ground speed on this flight was 526 knots. The departure runway at Westchester County Airport is 6,549 feet long, and the arrival runway at Istanbul Airport is 13,451 feet long. The distance from the home base to Istanbul is 4,315 nautical miles.

The most common destinations were New York LaGuardia Airport with 15 landings, Teterboro Airport with 3 landings, and Austin Bergstrom International Airport with 2 landings. The longest leg in that period was from White Plains to Monterey on November 5, covering 2,242 nautical miles.

Before departing for Istanbul, the aircraft had been on the ground for about four days since its previous tracked landing in New York on November 8. The Gulfstream G650ER has a top speed of Mach 0.925, or 516 knots, and burns an estimated 470 US gallons of fuel per hour.